Midtown Lunch

It’s been years since the Cubano sandwich hit the lunching scene. The double dose of pork on a pressed sandwich hit all the right pleasure points in the lunching public. Sophie’s and Tina’s rode the call for more porky goodness and the underlying desire for Latin food to a pair of empires that seems to stretch to everywhere there’s an office building in this town. Maybe that’s why, until recently, Cuban food seemed to be entirely left out of the food truck craze… that is until now.

The Bongo Bros. popped up on my radar after Goats posted about the truck in the forums back in May. They typically set up shop on 20th and 5th avenue, 24th and Broadway or somewhere in the general vicinity, yet I could never manage to catch up with them. I finally got a chance to try them out this week. Check it out after the jump.

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We miss you Jamaican Dutchy Cart

This has been a relatively quiet week in Midtown for food carts. We haven’t heard too much commotion because most of them have chosen to set up elsewhere. The Financial District has seen Go Burger, Schnitzel & Things, Cevap Truck and Desi Truck all set up shop on the days they used to come to Midtown. Most of the trucks who have braved the pressure up here have stuck to the 30’s and the far east or west. It seems Comme Ci, Comme Ca has indeed found a non-metered spot on 36th and Broadway and has operated without too much trouble both there and on 55th and Lexington this week.

Sadly, Korilla BBQ has not had the same luck. They were booted from their new Garment District spot yesterday (on Broadway between 35th and 36th) and had some trouble at a dinner spot near Penn Station Wednesday evening when they were told they were not allowed to operate before 7pm.

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• The lobster roll argument continues [Midtown Eating]
• Good sit down lunches near 53rd Street [Midtown Eating]
• 99 Cent Fresh has taken over the old K Pizzacone [Midtown Eating]
• Best halal deal in the FiDi [Downtown Eating]

Back in September, I checked out a 50% off deal at the just opened Peter’s Since 1969 (9th ave. btw 42+43rd). Even at half off, I wasn’t terribly impressed with the food, and didn’t really think much of trying them again. That is, until I saw them advertising a BBQ chicken sandwich for $4.82. That was a good enough reason for me to give them another shot. My return visit proved two things: 1) I’m a sucker 2) not much has changed at Peter’s.

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Baklava photo courtesy of @emilyarupp

It was almost a year ago exactly that Uncle Gussy’s, the Greek truck on 51st and Park Ave., went from a cart to a truck. And despite the current turmoil they are vowing to stick it out. Part of the reason is the great specials the truck allows them to serve, like today’s gemista courtesy of the owner’s Aunt Georgia (that’s tomatoes stuffed with rice and ground beef.)  Oh, and they also have a fresh batch of baklava, which we’ve heard is the “best… ever”. Here’s hoping they have better luck than the Jamaican Dutchy, whose recent move to a truck has put them in a lunchtime purgatory of sorts. (They were spotted last week in Queens, and haven’t twittered at all this week.)

In late May I blogged about the new breakfast service at Big D’s Grub truck. On my first trip I enjoyed the jalapeño corn cakes. But on a second trip I took Lunch’r beastegrl’s suggestion ordered the cakes with cheese (which Lunch’r beastegrl called “a MUST to balance sweet with salty”). Delicious. Sweet, salty, spicy, this makes for a killer breakfast. Adding the cheese will cost you an extra $.50 on top of the base $3.50 price but it’s totally worth the extra quarters. My only complaint is that they utilize the typical midtown fast breakfast technique of sandwiching the cheese between the hot cakes and wrapping it, thereby using the residual heat from the hot cakes to melt the cheese–if you tend to be eager to tear into your breakfast immediately, you’ll have to remember to wait for optimal melted cheese enjoyment.

Big D’s Grub Truck serves breakfast until 10ish (lunch service starts at around 11), and they should be on 53rd and Lex tomorrow (Friday), but as always check the Twitter Tracker before heading out.

Do you wonder what the ML contributors do when they’re not eating lunch in Midtown? (They’re actually pretty easy to stalk!)

Yesterday was Blondie’s birthday and she celebrated with this delicious looking strawberry pie, Brownie stuck with the pie theme and got a slice of blueberry pie from Four & Twenty Blackbirds, Brian decided that it’s time for some ice cream, Donny finally tracked down Filipino food at Philly Pinoy, and I wrote a guide on SLR food photography on Foodspotting.

Elsewhere in the ML Universe, Zach splurged on some amazing looking Peruvian food in Downtown L.A., Andrea wrote about a Korean BBQ kiosk near City Hall and Jamie tried out the ‘Holy Grail’ of pork as she gets ready to judge Philly’s first Vendy awards this weekend.

Ever since Bouchon Bakery opened earlier this year, I’ve been having fun eating through the menu of sandwiches and sweets. I’d previously declared their tuna niçoise to be a fine sandwich, and I recently decided to splurge a bit for the slow roasted pork sandwich on a Dutch crunch roll ($11.25).

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